better half

See synonyms for: better%20halfbetter%20halves on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a person's wife.

  2. a person's husband.

Origin of better half

1
First recorded in 1830–40

Words Nearby better half

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use better half in a sentence

  • I had read in a Hebrew book of an approved plan for a husband to secure lordship over his better half for life.

  • As we were going away old Quasho made his appearance, followed by Quashie, his better half.

    Hurricane Hurry | W.H.G. Kingston
  • Turn your mind from him with all the expedition in your power, or its peace may be touched for the better half of your life.

    Camilla | Fanny Burney
  • But here it appears to be the antipodes of all poetry and propriety, simply because man's better half is wanting.

British Dictionary definitions for better half

better half

noun
  1. jocular one's spouse

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with better half

better half

Also, better part. The larger amount or majority of something, as in I won't be long; the better half of this job is complete, or I have spent the better part of my life in this city. Sir Philip Sidney used the first term in Arcadia (1580): “I ... shall think the better half of it already achieved.” The variant appears in a well-known proverb, discretion is the better part of valor.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.